LAST NIGHT AND THE NIGHT BEFORE Chicago Premiere to be Presented at Steppenwolf This Spring

Steppenwolf Theatre Company is continuing its 47th season with the Chicago premiere of Donnetta Lavinia Grays' Last Night and the Night Before, a moving exploration of love - Black, queer, familial - and what must be sacrificed to raise a child. Directed by Valerie Curtis-Newton, Last Night and the Night Before will play April 6 - May 14, 2023 in Steppenwolf's Downstairs Theater, 1650 N. Halsted St. in Chicago. Single tickets starting at $20 are now on sale at steppenwolf.org or the Box Office at (312) 335-1650. The press opening is Sunday, April 16 at 6 pm.

Last Night and the Night Before will feature ensemble member Namir Smallwood with Ayanna Bria Bakari, Sydney Charles, Kylah Renee Jones, Aliyana Nicole and Jessica Dean Turner.

Monique and her daughter Sam are on the run. From what, they will not say. Showing up on their family's doorstep in Brooklyn, the surprise visit raises more questions than it answers. As the specter of their abandoned life in Georgia creeps back into focus, the family is forced to consider what must be sacrificed to raise a child in an often-cruel world. Donnetta Lavinia Grays's heartbreaking and poetic portrait of love - Black, queer, familial - is a bold tribute to the enduring promise of tomorrow.

The creative team includes Regina García (Scenic Design), Izumi Inaba (Costume Design) Mary Louise Geiger (Lighting Design), Larry Fowler (Sound Design), Kirsten Baity (Intimacy Choreographer), Gigi Buffington (Company Voice & Text Coach), Tom Pearl (Producing Director), JC Clementz, CSA (Casting Director), Laura D. Glenn (Production Stage Manager) and Jaclynn Joslin (Assistant Stage Manager). For full cast and creative team bios, visit steppenwolf.org/tickets--events/seasons-/2022-23/last-night-and-the-night-before/.

Performance Details:

Title: Last Night and the Night Before

Playwright: Donnetta Lavinia Grays

Director: Valerie Curtis-Newton

Cast: ensemble member Namir Smallwood (Reggie) with Ayanna Bria Bakari (Monique), Sydney Charles (Rachel), Kylah Renee Jones (Sam), Aliyana Nicole (Sam) and Jessica Dean Turner (Nadima).

Location: Steppenwolf's Downstairs Theater, 1650 N. Halsted St., Chicago

Dates: Previews: Thursday, April 6 at 8 pm, Friday, April 7 at 8 pm, Saturday, April 8 at 3 pm & 8 pm, Sunday, April 9 at 3 pm, Wednesday, April 12 at 8 pm, Thursday, April 13 at 8 pm, Friday, April 14 at 8 pm and Saturday and April 15 at 3 pm & 8 pm

Press performance/Opening: Sunday, April 16 at 6 pm

Regular run: Tuesday, April 18 - Sunday, May 14, 2023

Curtain Times: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursdays and Friday at 8 pm; Saturdays at 3 pm & 8 pm and Sundays at 3 pm. Please note: there will be an added matinee performance on Wednesday, May 3 at 2:30 pm (there will not be an evening performance on May 3); there will be no performances on Saturday, May 13 (Steppenwolf 2023 Gala)

Tickets: Single tickets ($20 - $88) are now on sale at steppenwolf.org and the Box Office at (312) 335-1650. Steppenwolf 2022-23 Flex Memberships are currently on sale: Black Card Memberships with six tickets for use any time for any production, and Red Card Memberships for theatergoers under 30.

Accessible Performance Dates:

Open-captioned: Thursday, April 27 at 8 pm and Saturday, May 6 at 3 pm

ASL-interpreted: Friday, May 12 at 8 pm

Audio-described and touch tour: Sunday, May 7 at 3 pm (1:30 pm touch tour, 3 pm curtain)

Mask-required performances: Wednesday, April 19 at 8 pm and Wednesday, May 3 at 2:30 pm.

Artist Biographies:

Donnetta Lavinia Grays

(Playwright) is the author of Where We Stand (Lucille Lortel, Drama League, and AUDELCO award nominee), Last Night and the Night Before, Warriors Don't Cry, Laid to Rest and The Review or How to Eat Your Opposition. She is the recipient of The Whiting Award for Drama, Helen Merrill Playwright Award, The National Theater Conference's Stavis Playwright Award, Lilly Award, Todd McNerney National Playwriting Award and the Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award. For television, she has staffed on Spectrum's Manhunt, FX's Y: The Last Man and served as Executive Story Editor on Joe Vs. Carole for Peacock. Broadway acting credits include The Skin of Our Teeth, In The Next Room, or the vibrator play and Well. Off-Broadway: Where We Stand (WP Theater/Baltimore Centerstage), Men on Boats (Playwrights Horizons/Clubbed Thumb) O, Earth (The Foundry Theatre), In the Footprint (The Civilians, as an Associate Artist) and Shipwrecked! An Entertainment (Primary Stages). Film: The Book of Henry, Wild Canaries, The English Teacher and The Wrestler. TV: Recurring roles on New Amsterdam, Happy, Rubicon, Mercy and Law and Order: SVU. And guest starring roles on High Maintenance, The Night Of, Blue Bloods, The Blacklist, A Gifted Man, Law & Order, Law & Order: CI and The Sopranos.

Valerie Curtis-Newton

(Director) is currently Head of Directing at the University of Washington School of Drama and serves as the Founding Artistic Director for The Hansberry Project, a professional African American theatre lab. She has worked with professional theatres across the country including: The Guthrie Theatre, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Seattle Rep, Playmakers Repertory Company, Actors' Theatre of Louisville, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Intiman Theatre, Seattle Children's Theatre, The Mark Taper Forum, New York Theatre Workshop and Southern Repertory Theatre, among others. Awards: 2020: Seattle Times Most Influential People of the Last Decade; 2019: Theatre Puget Sound - Gregory Falls Award for Sustained Achievement; 2016: Seattle Times Footlight Award (Best in Show); 2014: Stranger Genius Awards in Performance and the Crosscut Courage Award for Culture; 2012: Gypsy Rose Lee Award for Excellence in Direction; 2001: Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation's (SDCF) Gielgud Directing Fellowship; 1997-1999: NEA/TCG Career Development Fellowship for Directors.

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